WATSONVILLE >> The Watsonville City Council will consider a resolution amending the fee schedule for vehicle towing services at its Tuesday meeting.

The item is a followup to the June 25 meeting, where the council approved a resolution approving the Watsonville Police Department’s updated tow service agreement and authorizing both a tow fee study and the number of openings on the towing service rotation list pursuant to the Watsonville Municipal Code, Police Chief Jorge Zamora and Capt. Mish Radich wrote in a staff report.

“While the fees have been updated throughout the years through a standard/annual CPI increase, Staff was concerned those increases may have been insufficient compared to current rates for other law enforcement agencies operating within Santa Cruz County,” Zamora and Radich wrote. “The Tow Fee Study…ordered by the City Council was to compare to current tow-related fee rates with those of other law enforcement agencies operating within Santa Cruz County.”

The report’s authors compared the Police Department’s current tow-related fees with those of the California Highway Patrol, Capitola Police Department, Santa Cruz Police Department, Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office and Scotts Valley Police Department. From that, the Watsonville Police Department is recommending keeping the current vehicle release and 30-day tow hearing rates at $231 and $100 respectively, reducing the private property towing fee to $18 to be in line with the city of Santa Cruz, amend the gate fee to allow towing companies to charge half of the applicable rate as permitted by the California Vehicle Code, eliminating the city towing service fee — also known as the franchise fee — as Watsonville is the only municipality charging towing companies for their services, and allowing rotational tow companies to charge the CHP’s hourly tow fee rates of $315-$330 for light-duty towing, $400-$410 for medium-duty towing and $485-$500 for heavy-duty towing.“Implementation of the recommendations in this Tow Fee Study will create uniformity amongst the Tow Companies and Law Enforcement Agencies within Santa Cruz County,” Zamora and Radich wrote in the report.

In other business, Mayor Vanessa Quiroz-Carter will issue a series of proclamations honoring Watsonville Public House and Regeneración — Pajaro Valley Climate Action and recognizing October as Cybersecurity Month. The council will also issue Green Business Awards to businesses that exemplify environmentally sustainable practices, climate protection, pollution prevention and the conservation of natural resources.

The council will meet publicly at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Council Chambers on the top floor of the Watsonville Civic Plaza, 275 Main St., Watsonville. A closed session to discuss legal matters will precede the regular meeting at 4:30 p.m.